Kim Boyoung's SF Novel 'Dangsin-eul Gidarigo Isseo' Adapted into a Play

극단 Dolpagu to Perform at Hongik University Daehangno Art Center Small Theater from Next Month 4 to 7

[Asia Economy Reporter Byunghee Park] Theater company Dolpagoo will perform the SF play Waiting for You from July 4 to 7 at the Hongik University Daehangno Art Center Small Theater.

Waiting for You is based on the novel of the same name by SF writer Kim Boyoung.

Writer Kim Boyoung debuted in 2004 by winning the mid-length category of the 1st Science and Technology Creative Literary Contest with The Experience of Touch. She was the first Korean SF writer to publish a short story in the world-renowned SF webzine Clarkesworld Magazine, and attracted attention by signing a publishing contract with HarperCollins, the largest publishing group in the United States. On June 26, Parang Media published Kim Boyoung’s SF Stellar Odyssey Trilogy, consisting of three volumes: Waiting for You, its sequel Going to You, and People Going to the Future.

Waiting for You is an epistolary novel composed of letters between two people. In an era when faster-than-light interstellar travel is possible, “I” and “You” are about to get married. “You” must travel to Alpha Centauri to see off a family migrating to another star, which takes nine years by Earth time. To shorten this time, “I” boards the “Ship of Waiting.” According to the theory of relativity, spending only two months traveling at light speed in the solar system will allow “I” to meet “You” and have the wedding. Filled with hope, “I” embarks on a two-month journey at light speed through the solar system.

During the voyage, a series of small accidents occur, and the waiting time grows uncontrollably long. Meanwhile, great changes come to Earth. The only way for “I,” drifting in the middle of space, to contact “You” is through letters. The play focuses on the novel’s themes of the infinite universe, the long time and waiting that transcend a single human life. Three actors appear, transcending dimensions of time and space with keywords such as space, humanity, loneliness, and waiting.

Jeon Incheol, who adapted and directed the play, attempts various directorial experiments combining sound, lighting, and stage through collaboration with the creative team. The production aims to allow the audience to experience the changing spacetime of the infinite universe depicted in the original work.

Director Jeon Incheol debuted in 2006 with the play Silence and has since presented works such as Uncle Sunwoo, Morlan Sister, Yellow Envelope, Game, Blood and Seed, and XXL Leotard Anna Sui Hand Mirror. In 2017, he won the Best Director Award at the 54th Dong-A Theater Awards for I Am a Murderer, adapted and directed from a novel by Japanese SF writer Hoshi Shinichi. I Am a Murderer also won awards for stage art (lighting) and acting, and was recognized for its artistic merit through reruns in Korea and Japan last year. Director Jeon also received the 21st Kim Sang-yeol Theater Award last year.

The play Waiting for You was selected for the 2019 Korea Arts Council’s Mid- to Long-term Creative Support Project for Performing Arts. To prevent COVID-19, the performance will implement a “distanced seating system,” and mandatory temperature checks and mask-wearing are required upon entering the theater.